Nick Worner commentary: Legislature bent on making voting harder

Also in Opinion

Subscribe to The Dispatch

Already a subscriber?
Enroll in EZPay and get a free gift!
Enroll now.

Saturday December 7, 2013 5:49 AM

It’s no big secret that manipulating voting laws is a partisan blood sport in Ohio. The
controversies of 2004 are the stuff of legend, and in 2012 we saw a voting bill so obviously
partisan that the voters themselves organized a ballot referendum to strike it down.

At this point, the idea that some politicians are willing to game the system for competitive
advantage isn’t exactly shocking. But these are savvy people and they have learned their lesson
from past debacles.

No more shenanigans immediately before an election. No more referendums-waiting-to-happen.

This time, they are boiling the frog slowly.

It starts with Senate Bill 238, a bill that shaves six days off of early voting and also
eliminates golden week, that brief window of time where voters can register to vote and cast an
early ballot on the same day.

Golden week undoubtedly makes it easier to vote, and we’ve had it for nearly seven years now
with no indications of any widespread problems. Allowing voters to register and cast their ballot
on the same day isn’t something new or unique to Ohio. In fact, 10 other states have taken same-day
voter registration a step further, allowing voters to register and cast a ballot on Election
Day.

If anything, we should be joining these other states. If Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Idaho can
find innovative ways to make voting easier, surely Ohio can do the same thing.

Instead, we’re going backward. Golden week is on the chopping block and it won’t stop there.
Before long, Ohio legislators will be talking about even deeper cuts to early voting. Eventually
all of the shenanigans from the past will be back on the table in smaller, bite-sized pieces.

Ask yourself why.

These options have increased voter turnout and made the democratic process more accessible for
millions of Ohioans. Why would we want to go back?

The answer, of course, is that fewer voting options and lower voter turnout has historically
benefited some politicians. These are often the same politicians who do poorly with young voters,
low-income voters and minorities.

Coincidently, these expanded voting options are very popular amongst these voters. Some are
recent move-ins or voters with inflexible schedules who find golden week the most convenient time
to do their civic duty.

Others are elderly or disabled voters who don’t want to vote by mail and may need extra
assistance to register and cast their in-person ballot.

Whatever their circumstances might be, these voters have been among the first to turn to early
voting as their method of choice. This presents a nearly irresistible target for some politicians.
Why spend time worrying about how badly these voters will hurt you when you have the power to make
it more difficult for them to vote?

It doesn’t take a genius to do the math. If early voters favor your opponent 2-1, cutting their
early voting period is the easiest way to stop the bleeding.

Take it a step further. If voters who don’t have a photo ID are overwhelmingly supporting your
political opponents, creating photo-ID requirements at the polls is a great way to gain an
advantage.

Listen closely enough, and you’ll hear the less savvy politicians say this out loud. For the
rest, it’s mostly about the F-word: fraud

Those who advocate making it harder to vote often claim that our elections are in danger of
being stolen by legions of shadowy fraudsters. They advocate whatever measures necessary to protect
the integrity of our system. If that makes it harder to vote, so be it.

Maybe they know this is a political smokescreen, or maybe they actually believe their own
rhetoric. It’s hard to tell. Either way, their concerns are not based in reality.

By all measurable accounts, voter fraud is astronomically rare. We’re talking about thousandths
of a percentage point here, a few isolated votes amongst the millions upon millions of total
ballots cast. It’s next to impossible for numbers this small to influence the outcome of a modern
election. This is especially true in Ohio, one of the most closely scrutinized battleground states
in the country.

Our legislature knows this. They know there is no real justification for making it harder to
vote and still they are taking us backward.

Isn’t that the real threat to election integrity?

Politicians wield a tremendous power when they begin to redefine the conditions under which they
will be elected. They should be using this power to make it easier to vote, not harder, because
elections should control politics, not the other way around.